Apparel with Retractable Extensions

ABSTRACT

Apparel in which retractable extensions from a body portion of a hood may be selectively engaged in to cover a wearer&#39;s face. The extension of material is connected to the body portion, and stored within a pocket when it is not in use. When it is needed the wearer reaches into the hood, and extends the material out of the storage region, engaging it as a useful face covering.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/452,380, titled “Apparel With Retractable Extensions,” filed Aug. 5, 2014; that in turn claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/862,145, titled “Apparel With Retractable Extensions,” filed Aug. 5, 2013, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/507,389, titled “Headwear With Storable Accessory,” filed Jun. 25, 2012. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference, each in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The methods, apparatus, and systems described herein relate generally to an article of apparel, and more specifically to an article of apparel in which a foldable extension from a hood or item of headwear may be selectively utilized to cover the wearer's face.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is typical, that when wearing an item of headwear such as a hood of a hooded sweatshirt the user would prefer to have the choice of covering his face for warmth and protection. Typically, he would carry a scarf or a neck warmer, but both of those may be cumbersome to carry and bulky around the wearer's neck allowing for an unfavorable user experience.

It is an object of the methods, apparatus, and systems described herein to provide a hood or item of headwear that covers the wearers face when needed, and when not in use, remains folded into the hood in a storage region within the main body of the hood.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To these ends, the methods, apparatus, and systems described herein are directed to items of apparel in which an extension of material from a hood is stored in a first position where it remains in a storage region. It is then placed in a second open position, where the extended material is used as an extension of the main body of the hood, and covers a portion of the users face by separably attaching to the alternate side of the hood. When the extension of material is no longer needed, the user folds the extended material back into the storage region of the hood.

In some embodiments, provided is headwear that includes a headwear portion that has opposite sides, an accessory removably secured by a first detachable securing means to one end of the headwear portion, and a second detachable securing means. The accessory can be removably secured by the first detachable securing means to one end of the headwear portion in a first storage position, when not in use. The second detachable securing means can be secured to the opposite side of the headwear portion. The accessory can be manually detachable from the first storage position and moveable across a wearer's face to a second position, in which the first detachable securing means is detachably secured to the second detachable securing means. The accessory can be manually detachable from the second position and returnable to the first storage position after the accessory has been detached from the second position.

In a related aspect, an article of apparel is provided in some embodiments, in which the article of apparel includes a body portion, an accessory removably stored in the body portion at a first location when not in use, and first and second detachable securing means respectively secured to the accessory and to the body portion at a second location spaced from the first location. In such articles of apparel, the accessory may be manually removed from the first location and across a wearer's face to the second location, in which the first detachable securing means engages the second detachable securing means, thereby to detachably secure the accessory to the body portion at the second location. The article of apparel may also include means engaging the accessory for manually returning the accessory to its first location after the accessory has been detached from the second location.

Further, in a related aspect, some embodiments provide headwear that includes a headwear portion having opposite sides; and an accessory removably stored in a first position on one side of the headwear. The accessory may be manually removable from the first position and movable to and detachably secured to the opposite side of the headwear so that the accessory covers a wearer's face.

The headwear may further include means operatively secured to the accessory for returning the accessory to the first position after the accessory has been detached from the second position.

Other features and advantages should be apparent from the following description of various embodiments, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the disclosed methods, apparel, and systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To the accomplishment of the above and to such further objects as may hereinafter appear, the methods, apparatus, and systems described herein relate to an article of apparel and an associated extension of the article, substantially as defined in the appended claims and as described in the following specification of several embodiments as considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a side elevation of an embodiment with the extended material of the hood folded into the hood;

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the hood when the extended material is positioned across a wearer's face;

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of FIG. 1, depicting the portion of the hood that houses the extended material; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a top view of FIG. 2, when the extended material is positioned across the wearer's face.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a first embodiment of an article of apparel that is a hooded sweatshirt 3 with a hood 1 and an extension of material 6 that is attached at one end to hood 1. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the extension of material 6 is folded along line 15 into hood 1. At a free end of the extension of material 6 are alternate hook and loop fasteners, or tabs, 12 and 13. The extension of material 6 separably attaches to the inside of hood 1 by tabs 12 and 13. In place of the hook and loop fasteners, one or more of the following may be used: buttons, buttons snaps, magnets, magnetics buttons, and the like. Further, a hat or helmet may be used instead of a hood.

In use, the wearer may reach into hood 1, grab the end of extension of material 6, detach tab 12 from 13, and extend it across his face as seen in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows a hook and loop fastener tab 9 which the user may use to attach extension of material 6 to an attaching means (shown as tab 18 in FIG. 4) on the alternate interior side of hood 1.

When the extension of material 6 is no longer needed, the user may detach the material from the alternate side of the hood 1 and fold it along line 15, back into the hood 1 into its storable region. There, tab 12 may separably attach to tab 13, and the extension of material 6 may rest until it is needed again.

FIG. 3 shows a top view of the extension of material 6 folded into hood 1 where it may separably attach to hood 1 by means of tabs 12 and 13. Tab 9 is shown on the reverse side of the extended material 6 from tab 13.

FIG. 4 shows a top view of hood 1, when extended material 6 is brought across the user's face and is separably attached to the inside of the alternate side of hood 1 by means of tab 9 and tab 18. As mentioned, tab 9 and 18 may consist of alternating hook and loop fasteners, buttons, buttons snaps, magnets, magnetic buttons or the like. If desired the user may also attach extension of material 6 to the exterior of hood 1 by means of tab 21. In this configuration, tab 13 separably attaches to tab 21.

In some embodiments, the extension of material 6 may be folded along line 15, to the outside of hood 1, where it may attach to hood 1 by means of tab 9 and an alternate hook and loop fastener (not shown).

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of an invention that is claimed or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination may in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a sub-combination or a variation of a sub-combination. Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results.

Although embodiments of various methods and devices are described herein in detail with reference to certain versions, it should be appreciated that other versions, methods of use, embodiments, and combinations thereof are also possible. Therefore the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. Headwear comprising: a headwear portion having opposite sides; an accessory removably secured by a first detachable securing means to one end of said headwear portion in a first storage position, when not in use; and second detachable securing means secured to the opposite side of said headwear portion, said accessory being manually detachable from its said first position and movable across a wearer's face to a second position in which said first detachable securing means is detachably secured to said second detachable securing means; said accessory being manually detachable from its said second position and returnable to its said first storage position after said accessory has been detached from its said second position.
 2. Headwear comprising: a headwear portion having opposite sides; a storage region at one side of said headwear portion and having an opening at least one end thereof; an accessory stored in a first storage position in said headwear portion when not in use; first and second cooperating detachable securing means respectively secured to said accessory and to an opposite side of said headwear portion, said accessory being removable from its said first storage position and movable to a second position on the opposite side of said headwear portion at which it is detachably secured to said headwear portion by means of the engagement of said first and second detachable securing means and in which said accessory extends over a wearer's face; and means operatively secured to said accessory for manually returning said accessory after said accessory has been detached from its said second position to its said first storage position.
 3. Headwear comprising: a headwear portion having opposite sides; and an accessory removably stored in a first position on one side of said headwear; said accessory being manually removable from its said first position and movable to and detachably secured to the opposite side of said headwear at which said accessory covers a wearer's face.
 4. Headwear according to claim 3, further comprising means operatively secured to said accessory for returning said accessory to its said first position after said accessory has been detached from its said second position. 